A book by Sophie Kinsella writing as Madeleine Wickham.
Well I said from the beginning of this challenge that I wanted to read a wide variety of genres and I have just read what some would call my first Chick Lit ! Now this book probably (obviously) wasn't written for a 40 year old bloke with a bald head who likes football and Newcastle Brown Ale drunk straight from the bottle. And so it was interesting to take a look at this particular kind of book from an aspiring (neurotic) writers point of view.
Fleur Daxeny is an attractive and charismatic woman who gatecrashes funerals with the sole intention of befriending very rich widows . As it says on the front cover, she is ' a shoulder to cry on and a hand on your wallet.' This time she meets Richard and is soon drawn into his close family circle and all appears to be going well until her daughter arrives on the scene and Fleur also realises that she is not the only one after Richard's money.
On the surface I shouldn't have liked this book. I am not by any means of the imagination ' intended reader' and there is nothing new or original in ' The Gatecrasher'. It is littered with cliches and an incredible amount of spelling mistakes ( I have never read a book with so many, especially in the first half).
The characters are very much one dimensional and the plot was simple and paper thin.
However this book had a good hook which carried it along nicely and it was a light and easy read, not to mention the fact that I fell in love with Sophie's photograph on the inside cover! At the end of the day, despite its faults, this is not a bad read. However I will say that quickly and move on before my wife or somebody elses decides that I am turning in my old age.
Oh go on 7/10 !
Surprising how many books lately have typos in them. I'm not much into chicklit and haven't read anything by Kinsella though have heard good things about her. Now cozy mysteries - I think those are more fun to read.
ReplyDelete